DuPont Announces World's Most Popular 2009 Car Colors

Worlds Most Popular Car Colors
for 2009

Silver Gleams in First-Ever DuPont Global Color Rankings for 2009

WILMINGTON, Del., Dec. 1, 2009 – DuPont announced that silver,
black and white are the top
colors in the first-ever ranking of worldwide vehicle color popularity. Now
in its 57th year, the annual DuPont Global
Automotive Color Popularity Report is the original and most authoritative
source for automotive color popularity
information and trends with detailed breakdowns for the top automotive
markets as well as this year’s newly
announced top global colors.

“By gathering and analyzing color popularity data around the
globe, DuPont is able to better identify
trends and help our customers in the automotive industry develop color
palettes for the future,” said Nancy Lockhart,
color marketing manager for DuPont OEM Performance Coatings. “The
auto industry is an increasingly global
business, so regional and global color data are vitally important to
designers.”

Although the results suggest an ongoing convergence of color choice
globally with color preferences
becoming more homogeneous across regions, distinct regional differences
remain. The top three colors – black,
white and silver – continue to show strongly around the globe with
growth of these colors across regions.

“It’s important to recognize that most people today, no
matter where they live in the world, have
access to cutting-edge information about popular colors from many sources
like glossy magazines and fashionable
websites and often will see the same widely distributed films,” said
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director, Pantone
Color Institute and author of the blog Eisemancolorblog.com. “The top
colors become ‘aspirational’ with a universal
appeal.”

Changes Across Markets

“There are still distinct regional differences in preference,
but global trends are unmistakable,” said
Lockhart. “Color preference can change from year to year because of a
variety of factors including types of vehicles
introduced, reduced vehicle size, consumer tastes and even the economy.
These and other cultural, societal and
demographic influences can shift regional trends over
time.”